I was part of a Sunday evening prayer group that prayed specifically for our pastors, their families and the elders of our church. Our group had been together for about one year when I began to ask…Continue

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God will always use leaders in the lives of His people! We need our leaders whole and functioning at the highest capacity of their gifting and calling at all times. This will require focused, anointed, and specific prayer and intercession that goes on for them regularly!!

As the Body of Christ, most of us have not been cultured to automatically pray for our pastors. Pastors don’t always ask for prayer and many members may not feel comfortable praying for them. We need a renewed culture where prayer for the pastor is encouraged and taught. Prayer Points for Pastors: A Tool for Pastors and Their Intercessorswill help both pastors and their intercessors alike by offering important prayer points to consider during intercession. If pastors are upheld in prayer, the Body of Christ will win MAJOR battles, regain lost ground, and recover all. (Exodus 17:11; 1 Samuel 30:8)

I pray for all of the wonderful pastors that give their lives for the the sheep! Lord, anoint them now. Replenish and restore the virtue that has gone out today! Ease their minds right now of the troubles at hand. Speak the very Word into their hearts, that they are each in need of! Amen!

I am a pastor and attorney here in NYC and I want to urge you to watch the videos below. OUR RELIGIOUS HERITAGE IS UNDER ATTACK. The clips are not long. We have an educational program on Sat Sept 14th in NYC and I am encourage everyone to forward the first 2 videos and post them on social media to get the word out.

Pleas pray for me and our task force as we seek to educate the Body of Christ on these issues!

Pastors get their strength from the Lord. I was exhausted after 2011. My

friends and wife Laurel prayed for me and said, "We can do this." Amazingly,

God gave me strength to finish on January 1, 2012 feeling very strong. A young man at a United Methodist Church where I had exchanged pulpits this fall, put his hands on my shoulders and prayed. I felt God's Spirit and power that day. Dr. James McReynolds, First Christian Church, Weeping Water, Nebraska

Love is the highest value of the kingdom (I Corinthians 13:13). It is the central motivation of all the commandments (Mark 12:30-31). It is the character of God Himself (I John 4:8). It is the motivation behind the life mission of Yeshua (John 3:16). And it involves pain.

Love involves a relationship, which in turn involves another human being. All of us human

beings cause trouble. We sin. Sin hurts other people. If we love people, we have to deal with the pain that sin causes.

I have wonderful, loving, faithful relationships with people in all spheres of my life - marriage, family, work, congregation, partners and friends. Yet they all involve pain. Faithfulness and patience means bearing the pain of relationships over a long period of time. The beauty of love is well worth the pain involved, but it does cost the price. Pain is the price of love.

Romans 15:1 - We who are strong should bear the weaknesses of the weak.

I Corinthians 12:26 - If one member is hurting, then all the members suffer.

I Corinthians 13:7 - Love covers all things… suffers all things.

Galatians 6:2 - Bear one another's burdens.

Ephesians 4:2 - Suffer one another in love.

The pain of loving relationships comes in several dimensions. First we bear the weight when those we are in relationship with are weak. They cannot do all they should, so we need to "make up the difference." Here there is no intended harm meant. It is more of a weight than a pain.

The second dimension is that we feel vicariously the pains of others. Yeshua would weep in His daily prayer times (Hebrews 5:7) as He felt the suffering of others. Paul (Saul) said that he felt the suffering of those in the congregations under his authority. This pain is a spiritual pain; not your own pain. It is the loving identification of compassion and intercession.

The third dimension of pain is when someone you love hurts you. Here the pain is more direct. The depth of love is intimacy. Intimacy demands openness. Openness makes for vulnerability. That means you can be hurt or wounded. When we are hurt, we have the grace of Yeshua to help us forgive, overlook, communicate and receive healing. Yet the process still hurts.

Yeshua suffered the pain of the crucifixion in order to maintain a relationship with us. Our sin and His love caused the pain. Unfortunately, we are still causing Him pain. He forgave us on the cross. He continues to forgive us today.

Colossians 3:13-14 - Bearing with one another and forgiving one another. If anyone has a complaint against one another, even as Messiah forgave you, so you also must do. But above all things, put on love.

We are called to follow in Yeshua's footsteps. We act as He did on the cross. As He forgave us, we forgive others. He paid the price to continue in relationship with us. He suffered pain in order to love us. We suffer pain in order to love others. We walk by faith in the kind of sacrificial love that Yeshua had for us (1).

In His Grace,

Pastor Chris Skeens,

The Church of Jesus Christ at Ravenswood, WV

(1) Asher Intrater is the senior leader of a Messianic congregation in Israel. Asher's perspectives and insights are highly valued both in the Holy Land and beyond. He is also personal friend of Pastor Francis Frangipane. Our ministry is committed both to Israel and to the many excellent leaders in Israel's emerging church. For more information about Asher's ministry, please visit their website: www.revive-israel.org.

this is so great! i pray that there will be a huge take up of places and that there will be a need for more of these times due to numbers requesting a place. our pastor has to have heart surgery sometime soon, so doubt he will be able to go, but please keep us posted about future similar events. may there be a wonderful outpouring of the Holy Spirit over those dates.